Previous Studies

The Camp Kidpower Project

Description: Kidpower was a camp-like intervention with 4-5-years old participants used to see if play experiences with other children could reduce worries, fear, and anxiety. Children and their parents would complete clinical assessments, behavioral assessments, and an EEG before and after 5 sessions of camp.

Additional details of from the National Institute of Health can be found here.

  • Children ages 4-5-year’s old who displayed symptoms of anxiety were considered for this study. Children and a parent were enrolled if it was determined by one of our study clinicians that their child met criteria for an anxiety disorder.

  • The Camp Kidpower Project was ran in the State of Michigan at Michigan State University in East Lansing and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. Additionally, this study was also ran in the State of New York at Columbia University New York State Psychiatric Institute in New York City.

  • In-person data collection has been completed. Our study team is currently completing follow-ups with families who completed the study. We are in the process of analyzing data and preparing publications.

The Brain Cycle Study

Description: The purpose of the Brain Cycle Study was to examine the relationships between behavior, hormones, brain activity, and psychopathology in naturally menstruating women over the course of their menstrual cycle. Participants completed questionnaires and provided saliva samples for 35 consecutive days to capture at least one full menstrual cycle. In addition, participants visited our neurophysiology lab on four occasions during their cycle to complete an electroencephalogram (EEG) and working memory tasks.

Additional details of from the National Institute of Health can be found here.

  • Individuals assigned female at birth aged 18-25 with (1) regular menstrual cycles (i.e., the same number of days from the start of one period to the next, every month) and 2) not currently using any hormonal contraceptives (i.e., birth control pills/patch/IUD, plan B, etc.)

  • This project was conducted at the Michigan State University Psychology Building in East Lansing, Michigan.

  • Data collection has been completed for this project. There are still on-going analyses, publications, and posters being created with the results found. You can find published results in the Publications tab of our site.

The Michigan Longitudinal Study

Description: The Michigan Longitudinal Study (MLS) began in 1985 to measure the development of substance abuse across generations of family. When the study came to the CPL, we aimed to use this sample to understand biological bases of personality traits and how these are similar across parents and children. Over the span of three years, children and their parents would complete questionnaires across different domains. Additionally, children would complete EEGs with computerized tasks at three time points (start of three years, 1.5 year later, and at the 3-year mark).

Additional details of from the National Institute of Health can be found here.

  • This study considered families with children between the ages of 3-13 year’s old. The study also included multiple members within families, such as siblings and parents.

  • Approximately half of the sample came from the original Michigan Longitudinal Study that took place at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The remainder of this sample, was families from the Greater Lansing Area at Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan.

  • Originally starting in 1985, MLS has had spin-off research studies at as many as 9 other academic institutions. To read more about the main study and subsequent study research findings, please Click Here.

    For this lab specifically - data collection has been completed for this project. There are still on-going analyses, publications, and posters being created with the results found. You can find published results in the Publications tab of our site.

Recent Projects by our Graduate Students

Acute Reappraise Study

Psychoneurometric Approach to Indexing Reward Sensitivity

Under construction

  • Kenan Sayers’ Masters Thesis

    The purpose of this study was to examine the mechanisms that influence the effect of an acute bout of moderate intensity aerobic exercise on anxiety sensitivity (AS). Specifically, this study used electroencephalogram (EEG) technology to examine whether a neural marker of emotional reactivity and reappraisal processes, the late positive potential, was associated with exercise-induced changes in AS.

  • Grace Andersons’ Masters Thesis

    This project aimed to use a psychoneurometric approach to integrate psychophysiological, behavioral, and self-report personality data to operationalize reward responsiveness, a construct within the positive valence system of the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework. The psychoneurometric approach aims to develop composites of latent variables to more effectively predict clinical outcomes like mood symptoms. Using an exploratory factor analysis to reduce self-report measures of mood symptoms along with EEG and behavioral data collected during a randomized gambling task in middle-aged adults, six components emerged consisting of: the p-factor/questionnaire methods variance, trait-level approach motivation/task disengagement, general reward sensitivity, excitement seeking, impulsivity, and state-dependent response to reward. Future studies should evaluate the predictive utility of these composites and consider the implications of oversaturating dimension reduction models with self-report data.

  • Graduate Students’ Project

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